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Lowlandic
Lowlandic is an a posteriori conlang developed for the fictional nation of Lowlandia. Lowlandic is an West Germanic (specifically an Anglic) language, meaning that most of the features will be instantly recognisable to an English speaker. It is however, much more conservative, so a few differences can also be seen between itself and English. Lowlandic can also be learned on Memrise here. Notable Characteristics *A very Germanic vocabluary, much of which is noticable for English as most of the common English words are Germanic, but much is also words that no longer are productive in English. *A 4-case system with: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive. These cases are reflected by articles, pronouns, and also a few so-called "weak nouns". *A spelling system that looks much like the English spelling (at least for the Germanic words in English), but is much more reflective of the actual pronunciation. All those e's at the end of words aren't silent! *3 genders: Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter; this is determined through the ending of the word, and articles decline to it. Like other languages containing it, you will have to memorise it for each word. Classification and Dialects Lowlandic is, like English, Frisian, and Low Saxon, an ingvaeonic, West Germanic language. The language of these three that it shares the most phonetic and lexical similarity is English, however, the grammar is much more conservative, much like old English or even Old Low Saxon. Culture The language is developed around the connation Lowlandia, which shares much in common with the standard Germanic cultures. The religion is a mix of the old Norse mythology and Christianity. The food is based on meats swynfleash and cúfleash; pork and beaf. Hierarchy is also positively viewed in the society, but it is very contextual. When not at work, you view your boss as an equal, or if he at your house, even subservient. Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Writing System Grammar Pronouns Pronouns tend to be much more inflected than their English counterparts. Nouns Nouns decline to four cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive, with most of the declension happening in the articles. There are also 3 genders and several noun declension classes. Determiners Determiners are a closed set of words, and they are declined to agree to the case and gender of their respective noun. This declension follows a loose pattern, but is much less regular than the adjective declension. Here are a few of the more common determiners: * The form "ar" is also common in coloquial speech. Adjectives Adjectives inflect for a basic, comparative, and superlative form. They also agree to their noun on account of gender, and case, but this declension has simplified over time. There are 4 adjective declensions, Masculine, Feminine, Neuter, and Strong declension. Strong declension is used for any gender when a definite article is used. Verbs There are two classes of verbs; strong and weak. There are also a few irregular verbs. Irregular Verbs Strong Verbs Strong Verbs form the past tense with a umlaut in the vowel and form the 2nd person singular with a -st ending. These verbs are a minority, but most of them are common, so overall they are often seen. Weak Verbs Weak verbs are a bit different, in that they have a specific structure for the past tense. The 2nd person singular ending is also simply -s instead of -st. Syntax Lowlandic is officially V2, meaning that unlike English, the subject is not required to be in the first position of the sentence. Verb positioning in sentences is also a bit more complicated than English. Wheras the finite verb always goes into the second position like explained above, the rest of the verbs are pushed to the end, like German. They however preserve the original English ordering of the verbs. (Sorry if this is confusing, see example two for an example of how the verbs stack) Examples A búc well ic. a-ACC book want-prs 1S-NOM (I want a book) Þat internet dygs complet, wechi nextdíls man in regírengslosnes cann sín. the-NOM internet shows-PRS completely, which-ACC disadvantages one-NOM in anarchy can-PRS see-INF (The internet shows perfectly, which disadvantages one can see in an anarchy.) Lexicon Example text Category:Germanic conlangs